


Divine Chances

by orphan_account



Category: Night at the Museum (2006 2009)
Genre: Essentially fluff with a bit of angst, M/M, NatM 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-10 20:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3302873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from NatM 3, taking place whilst everyone is on the roof. Based on what you can hear the characters saying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Divine Chances

“I think I’ll take that hand now.”

Many hours ago, Octavius would’ve been pleased and proud to hold Jedediah’s hand. But now, lying on the wet roof, facing almost a certain slow death, it served as a bittersweet ending to what Octavius had only dreamed of. He reached up and found the leather gloved fingers, grabbing hold and squeezing tightly. Jedediah’s hand was warm in his, but it had rapidly started to cool and harden around his fingers. Time was slipping away, and there were only moments to enjoy the beginning of what could’ve been. Octavius closed his eyes and waited for the end, Lancelot’s speech slurring and slipping around his mind as he tried to claw extra seconds of life to just hold his love’s hand for the first and final time.

The end, as it seemed, felt a lot like becoming frozen and becoming unfrozen in a very short space of time. Octavius became aware that he seemed to be very much on his own - the hand once clasped in his own had gone, and he could not hear anything except a slight ringing sound. He refused to open his eyes, ignoring the hot sorrow that bubbled up from his stomach, not willing to believe that the emptiness meant the gods had decided to separate Jedidah from him. A life without Jedediah had slowly become an intolerable concept to Octavius - there was no way they could be-

“We made it, baby!” The shout caused his eyes to snap wide open. The afterlife looked very much like the wet English rooftop he had died on, but that shout… Octavius turned his head to the side, and saw Larry holding the now fully gold tablet in his hands. He looked the other way,and saw Jedediah on his feet, laughing and smiling and looking far more angelic than he had a right to be looking, his eyes shining with relief and a suspicious wetness that he was sure was mirrored in Octavius’ own eyes. He whooped and cheered with the others as he grabbed Octavius’ hands and pulled him to his feet.

“Well done, Daley!” It seemed right to congratulate the man of the hour, but Octavius’ attentions was focused squarely on Jedediah. The world seemed to fade at the edges, as the cheering crowd of museum models and the brooding figure of Lancelot became unimportant in this brief moment. For who could care about Lancelot and his hypnotic blue eyes when Jedediah looked at him like this, face flushed with relief and happiness, blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight, and that exhilarated smile plastered across his face? There was nothing Octavius cared more for now than the man that stood before him. The urge to hold the man and never let go became overwhelming, and it seemed Jedediah was thinking the exact same thing.

“C’m here...” 

And quite suddenly, Octavius found his arms full of the American man as Jedediah surged forward. His cheering was silenced by a pair of chapped lips pressing insistently against his. He froze for a moment, stumbling backwards as he struggled to support the weight of Jedediah. But before Jedediah could pull back and get the wrong idea, Octavius grabbed his neckerchief and kissed back, his senses filling with Jedediah’s musky scent and his body thrumming with a new kind of energy, reminding him that they were both, quite miraculously,  alive . 

They broke apart when the need for air arrived, grinning like two idiots at each other. The crowd’s cheering came back into loud focus, with congratulations and relief hanging like smog in the air. Jedediah half turned and yelled something indistinguishable into the air, whooping and grinning like the cat who’d got the cream. Octavius looked on, smiling on at the man, but the adrenaline draining away and the doubts and worries creeping in like an insidious fog.

“This feels good, doesn’t it Jedediah?” The forced bravado in his voice didn’t even convince himself that he wasn’t panicking about the answer. He knew that some of Jedediah’s men did not approve of any arrangement such as this, but what about Jedediah himself? His question was filled with other questions - was this real? Was this only the heat of the moment? Would this last when they were back in New York? Did Jedediah really feel this way about men? About him?

An understanding smile bloomed on Jedediah’s face. Octavius’ stomach seemed to be spawning butterflies as Jedediah pulled him close. “Aww, you said it!” he replied, smiling, leaning down to kiss him again. Relief swept through Octavius like a tidal wave, so strong that it was only due to Jedediah’s strong arms that his knees did not buckle. He could not help but respond to the kiss, which was hot and sweet and filled with answers that needed not to be spoken aloud. Lancelot had begun speaking again, but Octavius could not bring himself to listen to the words. The gods had granted Jedediah and him another chance, and that was all that mattered.

 


End file.
